The Gift (37 page)

“Maggie, just when did you and Zak conceive this baby?”
he asked quietly.

“I think it might have been the night he came home from
rehab. He told me that he had realized when he was in therapy how much Gabe and
Belle meant to him, and he was hoping that we would have another baby.”

“Maggie, that was the day after we made love at Tucker’s,”
Justin said.

“I know Justin, but I remember that we used a condom. It
would be unlikely that when we had sex that one time that it would have
resulted in my getting pregnant.”

Justin realized then that Maggie didn’t know that they
had made love a second time later that night, and that he hadn’t used a condom
that time. Maggie had been half asleep and obviously didn’t remember.

He didn’t know what to say to her. Maggie and Zak were
so delighted that they were going to have another baby that he couldn’t bear to
burst their bubble. He decided he was going to have to think about this. They
wouldn’t even be able to do a paternity test until the baby was six months old,
so maybe he would just keep quiet and let them enjoy their happiness. He was in
a state of shock anyway. He couldn’t believe that they were in the exact same
situation that they had been in when Maggie was pregnant with Gabriel. The only
problem was that if the baby was his, he would like to know about it. Justin
loved children and he had been seriously disappointed when he found out that he
wasn’t Gabriel’s father.

After they finished doing the dishes, Justin told Maggie
that he had a headache from the champagne and was going to go home. He walked
over to the studio and told the other members of the band that he wasn’t
feeling well and was going to leave. They were disappointed, but decided to
rehearse without him. Justin drove back to his empty apartment, a million
thoughts running through his head. He didn’t know how he was going to go through
another year not knowing if he was a father again. It was going to be
incredibly difficult for him to watch Maggie become increasingly pregnant,
knowing that it might be with his child.

When Justin got home, he opened a bottle of Jack Daniels
that had been sitting in the back of a cupboard and had a couple drinks. He
then went to bed and tried to sleep, but was unsuccessful. He turned the
options over in his mind, but wasn’t happy with any of them. All he knew was
that he wasn’t going to be able to handle seeing Maggie every day. The last
thing he remembered before falling into a drunken sleep was that he was going
to have to get away somewhere.

Justin woke up the next morning with a blasting
headache. He couldn’t bear to get out of bed, so he pulled the curtains shut
and went back to sleep. He didn’t wake up again until almost 2, when his sleep
was interrupted by a ringing telephone.

He picked the phone up and it was Zak.

“Hey, Justin. How are you? Feeling any better today?”

“A little bit, I still have that headache though.”

“We were wondering if you were coming to practice this
afternoon.”

“Let me wake up and have some coffee, and see how I
feel,” Justin said.

 “O.k., we’re going to start around 5. Feel better,
buddy,” Zak said and hung up the phone.

Justin dragged himself out of bed, put some coffee on,
and then got into the shower. He stood in the shower for half an hour, letting
the hot water run over his head and shoulders, thinking. By the time the shower
ended and he was toweling off, he had decided what he was going to do. Justin
put on a clean t-shirt and jeans and then picked up the phone and called
Tucker. Tucker answered on the fifth ring.

“Hey Tucker, it’s Justin. Yeah, I’m fine, how are you?
Maggie’s good, she just told us all last night that she’s pregnant again.”

Justin paused for a moment and then said, “Tucker, do
you remember how you said you could find me some studio work in Nashville? I was wondering if you would hook me up. I need to get out of Louisiana for a
while.”

Tucker told him that he would make a few phone calls and
get back to him. An hour later, Tucker called Justin back and told him that he
had a friend who was a record producer who could give him some studio work. He
also had another friend, a big country star, who was leaving soon on a three
month tour of Europe and needed a bass player for his band.

“Would you be interested in doing some touring?” Tucker
asked.

“Definitely, that sounds just about perfect,” Justin
replied.

“Also, if you need a place to crash, you’re welcome to
stay with me for a while,” Tucker continued.

“Thanks Tucker, I really appreciate it.”

“No problem, friend. Sometimes you need to take a break
from a woman, even if you love her,” Tucker replied.

“More true than you even know, Tucker,” Justin said and
hung up the phone.

Later that afternoon at band rehearsal, Justin told
everyone that he would be leaving in a week to go on a three month tour of Europe. He told the band that he had wanted to go to Europe for a while and that this
seemed like the perfect opportunity. Maggie, Zak and Tom were shocked. They had
been hoping to go on their own brief tour while Maggie was still able to
travel. Justin had played with the Bayou Blasters pretty much continuously
since high school, and they assumed that he would always be their bass player.

“What about your house, Justin?” Zak asked.

“Well, it will probably be ready right around when I get
back. It’s a good time to travel while I’m still in the apartment and I don’t
have any yard work or house maintenance to do.”

“We’re going to miss you, Justin,” Maggie said quietly.

“I’ll miss you too, Maggie, but I’ll be back in time for
the baby’s birth.” Justin said.

Tears filled Maggie’s eyes and started rolling down her
cheeks. She left the room abruptly and went into her bedroom and closed the
door. She couldn’t imagine her life without Justin being in it and she didn’t
know how she would get through the next three months without him.

Zak looked over at Justin, but he had a guarded look on
his face. Zak guessed that there was something going on between Justin and
Maggie, but decided to let them work it out. Zak walked over to his friend and
gave him a brief hug.

“I’ll miss you too. Have a good time in Europe, we’ll see you when you get back,” Zak said.

“Sure, let me know how things are coming along with the
house. And I hope that everything goes well with Maggie’s pregnancy.”

Justin shook hands with Zak and walked out to his car in
the driveway. He gave a long look at the house in the rear view mirror, and
then started up the car and drove home.

Justin spent the next week making preparations for his
trip to Europe and packing up his possessions so that he could move to his new
house when he got back. He planned to fly to Nashville and stay with Tucker for
a couple days before flying out to Amsterdam. He was sad to leave Maggie, but
almost relieved at the same time. He needed to start thinking about his future
and do the things that he had always wanted to do.

The afternoon before he was supposed to leave, Justin
drove over to Maggie and Zak’s to say goodbye. After playing with Gabriel and
Isabel in the yard for a while, Justin went into the house and sat in the
living room with Maggie and Zak to have coffee and talk about his upcoming
trip.

“I’ve always wanted to spend several months touring
through Europe,” Zak said.

“Me too,” said Maggie. “It would be a little tough with
the kids though.”

“We’ll get there some day, Maggie,” Zak said. “Maggie
and I have something for you, Justin.” He went into the kitchen and came back
with a bag from the bookstore. He took out a travel guide to Europe and handed
it to Justin.

“This might be useful when you’re over there, Justin. I
assume that you’ll have some free time to travel around on your own.”

“I’m thinking about taking some extra time at the end of
the trip to take advantage of the fact that I’m already in Europe,” Justin
said.

Maggie wanted to say “Hurry back, because I’ll miss you,”
but she only thought it. Gabriel and Isabel made some noise in their bedroom,
it sounded like they were fighting over a toy.

“I’ll get it,” said Zak and he went to find out what the
kids were squabbling about.

Justin took the opportunity to take Maggie’s hand and
kiss her lovingly.

“I’m going to miss you so much, Justin,” Maggie said.

“I know, I’m going to miss you too. I need to get away
though, Maggie. I need to get some sort of perspective. It’s really hard on me
to watch you and Zak every day and see how happy you are. I wish that it could
be you and me together.”

“I’m sorry, Justin. I’ve been so selfish. I always think
about my own needs and I don’t think enough about you. I haven’t been fair to
you.”

“Unfortunately, love isn’t always fair or works out the
way that you want it to. I guess we’re just going to have to do the best that
we can,” answered Justin. “Please take care of yourself,” he continued. “I love
you. I’ll be back eventually.” Justin kissed Maggie one last time and then he
left the house.

Zak walked back into the living room to find that Justin
was gone and that Maggie had tears streaming down her face. He sat down next to
her and put his arms around her.

“It’s o.k. Maggie, Justin will be back. Just give him
some time.”

“I don’t know, Zak. I don’t think he’s ever coming back.”
Maggie said.

“Maggie, he’ll be back. He loves you, just like I do. He
just needs to be by himself for a while.”

.

Chapter 39

Two weeks later, Maggie got a phone call from
Tucker. He told her that he wanted to set up the tour to promote their album
and he was wondering if she would be up for playing some dates with him. She
told him that she was feeling pretty well and that she would welcome the
distraction.

“You must be missing Justin a lot, sweetheart.” Tucker
said.

“Yes, my life feels kind of empty without him.”

“Well, he was pretty broken up about leaving you.
Sometimes life gets awfully complicated.”

“That’s certainly true,” Maggie said with a heavy sigh.

“Maggie, I’ve been thinking about something lately. I
feel like I’ve been so lucky to have music in my life. I was thinking about
starting a foundation with some of the proceeds from our album to give
disadvantaged kids a chance to discover the gift of music for themselves. Do
you think you would be interested in doing something like this too?”

“Oh, Tucker, that’s a wonderful idea. I always think how
lucky Gabriel and Isabel are to have music in their lives, and I would like to
see all kids have that experience.”

“Let’s talk about this some more when we go on tour,
Maggie. I’d like to leave some kind of positive legacy.”

“Are you o.k. Tucker?” Maggie asked.

“Of course, it’s just that I’ve been thinking about my
life since I had the heart attack, and I’d like to think that I did something
positive while I was here on earth.”

“Are you sure that you didn’t just come up with this
idea to distract me while Justin is gone?” Maggie said.

“Well, if it would distract you, then it’s an even
better idea,” Tucker replied, and Maggie knew that he was smiling as he said
it.

“And Maggie…” Tucker continued.

“What Tucker?” she said.

“Don’t worry, Justin will be back eventually. He just
needs some space for a while.”

Maggie felt a little better. Tucker’s words made her
feel like there was hope that she would be reunited with her friend again. The
next few months would go by quickly and then Justin would come home and the
baby would be born. In the meantime, she had her music to work on and she and
Tucker could look into starting their foundation. Like Tucker, it would give
her life some meaning to give children the opportunity to be exposed to music.
She realized it had been one of the greatest gifts in her life, and she wanted
to share that with others.

The End

.

Some of the proceeds from this book will be used to
support music programs for young people.

You too can give the gift of music.

Consider supporting music programs in your local area,
or the following foundations.

National Foundations:

D’Addario Music Foundation

http://daddariofoundation.org

Fender Music Foundation

http:/www.fendermusicfoundation.org

“Only 25% of 8
^th
grade kids nationwide have
access to music in our schools. Our mission is to create opportunities for kids
and adults alike to experience the joy of creating music.”

VH1 Save The Music Foundation

VH1savethemusic.com

“A non-profit dedicated to restoring instrumental music
education in America’s public schools.”

Regional  Foundations

Louisiana
 

The Roots of Music Foundation

http://therootsofmusic.com

“The Roots of Music is a non-profit organization
designed to address the critical need for music education for New Orleans
at-risk middle-schoolers. The goal of this program is to preserve and promote
the music culture of New Orleans.”

The Dr. Tommy Comeaux Memorial Endowed Fund for
Traditional Music